First Day

Today was the first day of my 23 year of teaching.
Today was the first day both my boys went to high school.
Today was the first day of Jacob's freshman year.
Today was Patrick's LAST first day of school.  {I don't think he's going to let me come down to his college & let me take a first day picture next year.}
'Time keeps on tickin, tickin, tickin...into the future'.  That song lyric has been going through my head since Patrick started high school.  It's absolutely amazing how the older you get, the faster time goes.  I'll save my tears & focus on enjoying the moments.  Here are a few from the year so far...

I love these boys

Way to use that 4.0 head

"What did I do?"

#22

Rather embarrassed to admit to reading book #22 ~ I bowed to peer pressure & all the hype and read Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James.  Yep, it's all they say, yet it's more.  The history of its beginning as Twilight fan fiction is interesting ~ and that all evidence of that has been removed from the internet ~ I find Ana a much more likable character than Bella ever was & Christian {what an interesting choice for his name, btw} is much more intriguing than what's-his-face from Twilight {Can you tell I was Team Jacob?}  I like Ana's 'smart mouth' & the fact that she's trying to hold her own. To be honest, I don't get the whole Dom/Sub thing...I think I would have run for the hills, but somehow it's believable that she didn't, at first.
The writing is just as horrible as Twilight.  I think James did a 'find & replace all" changing 'said' to 'murmur' ~ I don't think people walk around murmuring as much as they do in this book.  It made me crazy every time I ran across the word!  And to complain more, I don't think your subconscious talks to you...it would be your conscious then, wouldn't it?
Aside from the smut & the lack of writing skills...I'm intrigued.  I really liked the ending.  I'm so glad she took her dignity and left ~ even though it's grieving her.  I'm taking a break before reading book #2 {an 'on hold' summer reading book came in at the library}, but I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes & what Christian decides to do with his new-found feelings.
fl: I scowl with frustration at myself in the mirror.  ll: I curl up, desperately clutching the flat foil balloon and Taylor's handkerchief, and surrender myself to my grief.

Butt's Face

My face is uncovered and scared for all the world to see.  Let it be a warning to wear sunscreen.  Remember how I didn't realize it would hurt?...I really thought it would look better than it does.  I know.  I know I should not complain.  People have REAL cancer ~ then kind that takes more than a 45 minute surgery & two weeks to let a incision heal.

I have a scar.  A fresh scar.  $35 Mederma & time will help it smooth out.  {There I was at Walgreen's looking at the difference between $35 Mederma & $22 Walgreen's brand...the ingredients were similar, but not the same...Thinking, "This is my FACE!"  I spent the $35}
I could paint it blue & let it be a spirit tattoo for the Madison Blue Streaks ~ kind of lightening boltish.

running

I am back running.

It is so amazingly wonderful & freeing.  I ran 1.5 miles on Monday with the XC kids and I ran the WHITE TRAIL at Camp Stig today.  The white trail is the best trail run I've ever done.  Ups and downs and over logs...over creeks on logs, across streams...up a HUGELY steep muddy hill that has a rope assist...without which you would certainly roll back down 8 out of 10 climbs.  I ran it before practice because we'd never been there before & then we let the kids run it.  And then they wanted to run it again.  It's so energizing to see kids run a very hard mile trail and come out wanting to do it again.  Great practice!  And my foot feels 98.9%.  I take my Naproxen Sodium Tablets before the run & use my frozen water bottle after the run...and I'm doing great.  So happy.

Mike ran the Perfect 10-miler on Sunday.  He said it was harder than he thought.  The Cleveland 10-miler is pretty flat; not so with the trail through Lyndhurst.  We saw him & mile 6 with my sign & he smiled...so I think he liked it.  Then we drove to mile 8 where we saw him & got a few pictures.  Here's one:

I love the look on his mom's face across the street!  This is such a great picture of the family caught enjoying the moment.  Even Mike looks happy ~ and this is mile 8.

Then we went to the finish line where Mike had a super strong finish:

Such a powerful kick at the end!  He finished with an official time of:  1:24:59.3 ~ which was good for 247the place overall and 33rd in his age group.  Our friend Craig also ran...but when he finished his race he went the extra mile, literally & ran four laps of the track because his training schedule for his Columbus Marathon (first full) was to run 11 miles that Sunday morning.  Kinda crazy, mostly admirable.  I watched...anticipating my Monday run...fearful it would go poorly.  SO happy that it did not!  I won't be in the next race...but I hope to race soon.  Here's a shot of me and my sweaty man at the end.  I look pretty fresh!  No need to nap for me.  That other guy's gonna be out on the couch in about 3 hours.

#21

Book #21 is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.  Let me be clear.  I did NOT want to read this book.  I don't like reading dog books.  The dog ALWAYS dies {except in Gordon Koman's No More Dead Dogs ~ which sums up my feelings exactly}.  I hate it when the dog dies.  It's the worst part about having a dog.  They steal your heart & stomp all over it ~ why would I read about it and rip those scabs right open?
BUT, it was recommended to me by numerous sources...and I don't like to miss out on a good thing...so peer pressure won.  I don't want to ruin it for you, but the dog dies, as is made perfectly clear in the first chapter...no surprises here.  But it is such a good story.  It is worth reading.  Enzo, the dog, is the narrator & tells us the story of his master & family.  We learn the ups & downs of life & death and love & loss.  So many great characters, the best being Enzo.  I found myself looking at Tonka & Fonzi differently.  Dogs certainly become part of the family...but how much DO they know?
Lots of good quotes:
p41 ~ That which you manifest is before you.   {Pretty much the theme of the story...and an interesting way to look at life.  My summary ~ poor as it may be ~ that which you believe to be true, is.
p74-75 ~ But I am a racer at heart, and a racer will never let something that has already happened affect what is happening now.
p80 ~ favorite word

p102 ~ Pretend you are a dog like me and listen to other people rather than steal their stories.  {I should TATTOO this on the inside of my eyelids for constant reminders}

p141 ~ Beware the whimsy of Fate...She is a mean bitch of a lab.

p160 ~ "Today is the first day I am not dead," Eve said to us.  "And we're having a party."  To live every day as if it had been stolen from death, that is how I would like to live.  To feel the joy of life, as Eve felt the joy of life.  To separate oneself from the burden, the angst, the anguish that we all encounter every day.  To say I am alive, I am wonderful, I am.  I am.  That is something to aspire to.  

p198 ~ Did he despair?  Did he silently berate himself for allowing himself to be in that situation?  Or did he finally realize what it is like to be me, to be a dog?  Did he understand, as those interminable minutes ticked by, that being alone is not the same as being lonely?  That being alone is a neutral state; it is like a blind fish at the bottom of the ocean: without eyes, and therefore without judgment.  Is it possible?  That which is around me does not affect my mood; my mood affects that which is around me.  Is it true?  Could Denny have possibly appreciated the subjective nature of loneliness, which is something that exists only in the mind, not in the world, and, like a virus, is unable to survive without a willing host?

p235 ~ You should shine with all of your light all the time.

fl: Gestures are all that I have; sometimes they must be grand in nature.  And while I occasionally step over the line and into the world of the melodramatic, it is what I must do in order to communicate clearly and effectively. ll: "Si," he says.  "The car goes where the eyes go.  It is true, my young friend.  It is very, very, true."

signs

Mike is running in the perfect 10-miler this Sunday.  While I wish I were running, {not as painful a feeling as my foot is really feeling good ~ with a wee little bit of running with the kids this week ~ and hope for running in the near future} I'm pretty excited to be a spectator.  I've never seen him cross a finish line because he beats me in the races we do together.  He's all about the signs ~ "Come & watch & bring a sign," he's told his mother & father & sister & ME.  LOTS of pressure to make a good one!
Mike's favorite sign is:

This is the worst parade EVER

My favorites:

Chuck Norris never ran a marathon  

Your feet hurt because you're Kicking Butt!

Run Faster, You're Losing!

But the one I made is just for my runner man:

I hope he likes it!

While looking for ideas I came across this really funny wordpress site with pictures...which make it all better.

catch up

Now that cross country (me), soccer & band camp (boys) have started, I'm thinking that I have not too much to show for all the fun we had this summer.  I am a bad photographer because I don't want to carry a camera.  It seems I am also a bad blogger as I haven't recorded much of our lives ~ So, as I sit here eating the last bag of Candy Cane Kisses I will attempt to do a summer catch up.

First of all, last Friday I had a basal cell removed from my face.  Yes, it was a basal cell (cancer) and Yes, they got it all ~ (so I'm cancer free.)  But I have this really nifty stitched-up cut on my left cheek.  It's kinda in the shape of a z on it's side...& since it's my blog, I'll be honest.  I never thought about the 'after' part of the surgery.  {really ~ I know it's hard to believe, but it's true}  I was pretty focused on the 'get it out' part.  I must have thought, 'He'll take it out, and then stitch me all up, just like new.'  Not really realizing that the cutting part would actually take time to heal.  It hurts.  And it's oozy & bloody & kinda GROSS looking.  I sure hope it's healing the way it's supposed to, because it looks really really gross now.  People kind of do a double take...I'm thinking it makes me look badass.  So don't mess with me.

Secondly:

This is a picture from JUNE ~ Jacob's LAST rec soccer season.  He played rec soccer for over 10 years!  I think he enjoyed every minute of it.  My favorite part of soccer is the clock.  It just keeps on ticking away!

Thirdly:

In July, Jacob spent a week in Colorado with his grandparents.  Once again he got on a plane all by himself. Last year it was almost the end of me to see him walk down that jetway.  This year, I was much more confident in letting him go.  It's amazing how hard it is to let your kids grow up.  As babies they are totally dependent on you for everything & you gladly give them all they need.  Then they grow & learn all the stuff you teach them (the stuff you mean to as well as the stuff you wish they'd ignore) and they get more and more independent.  I know it's a good thing, but it's not an easy thing.  But in Colorado, Jacob had a ball.  He was big cousin Jacob to Maggie & Mary Grace.  Mary Grace CRIED when Jacob left their house.  Grammy & Grampy took him Jeeping & bike riding & alpine sliding & hiking.  They played pool & chess & Jacob even won a game.  He even went to Denver with the youth group & enjoyed a day at the water park. He had a great time.

 Fourthly: Here are my two high school kids, ready for the Old Fashioned Days parade.  Jacob's first event as a high schooler!  He was pretty excited about the whole thing too.  As this was also the LAST Old Fashioned Days, it was fitting that it's the only one that both Barton Boys will be marching in.  

Oh, Old Fashioned Days.  How I love your cheese-on-a-stick & the funnel cake from the little brown funnel cake stand where they make your funnel cake to order & the woman once asked if I wanted cinnamon & sugar AND powdered sugar.  "Yes, please."  So I order it that way EVERY year.  And they crazy big wheel races and bed races that I never took part in because all my pushers backed out last year & this year I have a messed-up face...

Back to the parade:

Mike had asked Patrick to try & get Jacob marching next to him in the parade.  Without rolling his eyes, Patrick rolled his eyes.  He even said later that he tried his best, but he couldn't get Jacob anywhere near him.  So we were pretty tickled {showing my age with that word} when they marched by:

And the retired one {I LOVE Dan's facebook posts about all he does with the retired one} ate her fries:

Life is pretty good in the summertime.  

#20

One I got from an online summer reading list...not sure what makes this good summer read, but it was ok.  The Innocents by Francesca Segal is book #20 ~ set in London about a close knit Jewish community, a man questions his whole world & wonders if following what is expected of him is really what will make him happy.  Of course it's his girlfriend's scandalous cousin who has caught his interest...
Another tale of poor communication within relationships & thinking the grass is always greener on the other side.  It was well written & had good characters, but the plot, on the whole, just made me sad & angry.

Quotes:
p4 ~ Jasper snorted, loudly.  Jasper did everything loudly.  He was not secure enough to believe that anyone would pay him attention unless he made himself unavoidable.
p88 ~ "...it's one way of saying that substance isn't important.  Only the appearance."  "That's so superficial."  "It doesn't' need to be, it can be precisely the opposite.  It can also mean that what matters is the face you show the world and the way you treat the people in it, and that your private inner life isn't judged.  It resonates with Jewish thinking actually—that actions are what truly matter, and thoughts aren't sins unless you act on them."
p137 has the characters playing a game that just caught me by surprise & made me laugh.  It's "dispatched, hatched, or matched" ~ they turned to the social & personal page of the newspaper & someone reads a name.  The everyone else guesses if they've been dispatched, hatched or matched.  It took me a minute because they were just shouting out the words, to figure out what the heck they were talking about...dead, born, married!  Funny, no?
fl: Adam had, for the occasion, bought a new suit.  ll: As Rachel and Adam approached, hand in hand, he looked up and Adam caught his eye.  Lawrence smiled.